In some respects this species resembles the Maidenhair Spleenwort, though there are certain important distinctions. In the first place, there is the bright green colour of the whole plant; this is very different from the dull shade of the Maidenhair Spleenwort. The Green Spleenwort also grows in damp situations, and would not be at all happy on the top of a wall. Most distinctive of all, the Green Spleenwort has a bright green rachis to its fronds, although the stipes has a tendency to be purple in colour. In other respects the two plants are very similar. We notice the same narrow frond with the rounded pinnæ set on either side of the rachis, sometimes in pairs and sometimes in alternation. The margins of the pinnæ are inclined to be notched. The sori are narrow, and when young are covered with an indusium. It is said that even when ripe the sporangia hardly ever spread over the entire surface of the pinnæ, as is to be seen in the case of the Maidenhair Spleenwort. [Illustration: Asplenium viride. The Green Spleenwort.] The Green Spleenwort is a much rarer species than the Maidenhair Spleenwort. It grows in wild and often mountainous situations in various parts of the United Kingdom. As has already been indicated, it likes rather damp situations, and is to be seen at its best in moist places. The Green Spleenwort is rather a difficult plant to grow in the garden, and it is happiest of all in a humid greenhouse—unless, of course, a very favourable situation can be found out of doors. The fronds of the Green Spleenwort generally last through the winter. _Scolopendrium vulgare._ In this case the generic name is derived from _scolopendra_, the Latin name for a “centipede”; this has reference to the supposed resemblance of the lines of spore cases to the legs of a centipede. The specific name is, of course, simply Latin for “common.” The Hartstongue. [Illustration: Scolopendrium vulgare. The Hartstongue.] This is certainly one of the most familiar of all British ferns. Almost alone amongst the well-known species, the plant has an uncut frond. The leaves rise from a tufted root-stock which generally stands well above the level of the ground. The length of the fronds varies considerably, and in a mature plant which has found a damp corner these are sometimes two or three feet in measurement. Where the plant has found a home on a dry wall, however, it may be a very diminutive affair. As a rule, the stipes will be about one-third of the whole frond, the leafy portion being long and tongue-shaped. At the tip the frond ends in a point, whilst towards the middle the leaf swells out again, narrowing once more towards the base and finally expanding again into a couple of ear-shaped projections. The rachis of the Hartstongue Fern is a very prominent feature, and at the back of the leaf appears in the form of a ridge. [Illustration: The sori on the back of a Hartstongue frond.]